07, June 2018

Relational desires: Jonathan was heir to the throne, but he voluntarily gave it up because he knew his friend David was God’s choice to be king. Jonathan desired to be a friend more than he desired to be a king. How often do you find that? And he didn’t become David’s friend because he was pursuing some ‘discipline of spiritual friendship’. He simply liked David, and that friendship changed the course of Israel. We all have relational desires we don’t pursue. Unless a deep, meaningful relationship falls into our lap, we give up. However, friendships like that don’t just happen; Jonathan had to overcome unbelievable barriers to build a friendship with David.

Sometimes you will have to do the same, and God will help you. Author John Ortberg writes: ‘My friend Chuck has the spiritual gift of breakfast. He meets people in a Southern franchise called the Waffle House. The waitress loves to wait on him because he tips well and makes everybody laugh. He’s… really funny and utterly unguarded about his own brokenness, which makes people open up to him like tulips in the sun… He feels God’s presence most powerfully when he sits in the Waffle House and is allowed to see someone’s soul. It’s not the coffee that brings people to him; it’s the rivers of living water flowing out of him.’ If you’re naturally shy, here’s a tip: chances are the person you’d like to reach out to is shy as well. Go ahead, make contact and see what happens. Who knows, you could be the answer to their loneliness and they to yours.